Rebooting ChessCountry

Rebooting ChessCountry

This blog has a long history and was originally an offshoot of a website of the same name. I closed the website a few years ago and I haven't posted here in several years. Due to my retirement, I now have more time and am going to start posting again on a regular basis. The blog will now include book reviews, tournament results at least the major ones and occasional posts on scholastic chess and chess for seniors. I hope to post at least once a week.

A List of Recommended Books on the End Game

USCF Master Vince Berry has  been kind enough to recommend several recent books on the endgame. Listed below in no particular order is a brief bibliography of some of the books currently available to help you  improve your end game skills:

1. Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman
2. Fundamental Chess Endings by Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht
3. How to Play Chess Endgames by Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht
4. Secrets of Pawn Endings by Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht
5. Secrets of Rook Endings by John Nunn
6. Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual by Mark Dvoretsky
7. Practical Endgame Play-beyond the basics by Glenn Flear
8. Van Perlos's Endgame Tactics by Van Perlo

Learning the Endgame

When I first started tournament chess and before for that matter, my biggest problem was losing or "hanging" pieces for no compensation. While I still have problems with this from time to time, I improved enough so that I was able to hold on to them most of the time. Then I started calculating simple combinations, including mates and my strength went up again. Eventually I got to where I could get out of the opening more or less in one piece and get a fairly playable middlegame. One area of my game that I seriously neglected was the ending. In part this was a practical decision. Until I could learn to play the middlegame, the ending was usually not relevant if I was a piece down or mated. Unfortunately I found my development stalled because I never learned how to play endings. I am now trying to remedy this problem about 30 years too late. Fortunately today we have a lot of good books on the ending and ChessCountry is running a series of reviews on some of the new books that have recently been released. www.chesscountry.com

ClassTournaments

I visited the Chicago Midwest Class Championships last weekend. In a class tournament, you play people only in your own rating class. In the case of the USCF, this breaks down into Masters, Experts, Class A players, Class B players, Class C players, Class D players, and Class E players. Depending on the tournament organizers, the class maybe further divided. Class tournament are a good way to improve because you play only people who are roughly as strong as you are so at least in theory, everyone has a chance to beat each other. To the results of the Chicago Midwest Class, click here

http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200910119131.7

Active Again

After a long layoff, the Chess Country blog is active again. We will be overhauling the site over the next few months and getting back to basics. Our first step has been to close the store. We are going to concentrate instead on more articles, book reviews, and news as we gather it. Our first order of business will be more timely posts. Lots of interesting things going on in the chess world these days. Magnus Carlson has won the Nanking Pearl Spring Tournament in China. With a round to go has a full two point lead over V. Topalov. His performance in this tournament is one of the strongest of all time. We will contine to gather and post news here as we find it. If you have any ideas as to what you would like to see with regard to chess and our website, please us know.

Scholastic Chess-What Would Steinitz Have Thought?

I went to the Illinois State Scholastic tournament yesterday and I was struck by several things. First and foremost was the enthusiasm of the kids who were playing chess for sheer joy of the game. It was nice to see that for a change instead of people who were playing for money as is typically the case in the large Swiss adult tournaments. The other thing that struck me was the dedication of the parents and coaches who were spending the weekend with their kids so they could play chess. This is no small commitment and unlike youth soccer or hockey, the parents aren't even allowed to watch the games! (There is considerable merit to this idea by the way, other youth sports are thinking about it too..)There were over 700 players at this event with players ranging in age from 5 to 14 and my hat is off to the organizers of this event as well. While it was chaotic outside the tournament hall, it was quite quiet within. While only a small percentage of these kids will go on to play adult tournament chess, scholastic chess spreads knowledge of the game and that can only help chess in the long run. If ever the US is to seriously challenge for the world title again, the seeds of that challenge will from programs like this as well as support for the current challengers that we may put forth today.

In Praise of Brick and Mortar Chess Clubs

Chess Life, the magazine of the United States Chess Federation recently ran an article praising the rise of online chess while lamenting ever so slightly the decline of the "brick and mortar" chess club. I have belonged to several brick and mortar clubs over the years and I also play on several online chess playing sites. While the game is the same (at least the rules are similar), the environments are completely different. You typically don't see your opponent in online chess although he may taunt you (courage behind a keyboard is truly something to behold) and you aren't always sure exactly who you are playing. This is especially true on the slower sites. Before we fly into a Luddite rage about computers, I might point out it was not uncommon to gather at the local chess club to analyze postal games in the pre-computer era either. At a brick and mortar club you get to meet your opponents, learn from them or teach them and socialize with them during and after the meeting. Chess used to be the province of "gentlemen" something to do when sports weren't available or age had robbed one of the ability to anchor the defensive line. Later it became more egalitarian. The friends I made at my local chess club have been my friends for almost 35 years now. Sadly, the club has declined but not because of online chess. Brick and mortar clubs take organizers. They also need places to meet. In our case, because of changing demographics, a lot of the members had moved a good distance from the club and the price of gas has taken its toll. Fortunately we all found a new club and reformed our relationships there. The old club is still going but will probably not last much longer. Had we brought in new and younger players and found more people to help run the club, this probably wouldn't have happened. So it isn't online chess that is doing in the brick and mortar club, it's people. Still, 50 years is a pretty good run for any kind of club and maybe, just maybe someone else will come in the door.